


Sharing Secrets

by Misskiku



Series: Bederia Goodness [8]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Fluff, bederiaweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:02:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22871446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misskiku/pseuds/Misskiku
Summary: Bederia Week Prompt 3: Traveling TogetherGloria comes to Ballonlea Gym and decides that she's going to 'kidnap' Bede!
Relationships: Beet | Bede/Yuuri | Gloria
Series: Bederia Goodness [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630534
Comments: 9
Kudos: 112





	Sharing Secrets

The Fairy Gym doors opened for a grinning Gloria, who skipped over to Bede excitedly after his final match of the day. 

"Bede! I'm here to steal you!"

He raised an eyebrow warily at her, ignoring the way his heart skipped to see her. "Excuse me?"

His suspicion didn't deter her in the slightest. 

"I've come to take you somewhere special," she said, and gave Ms Opal a smile. "Good evening, Ms Opal! I'm borrowing Bede for a bit!"

Bede stiffened, sending a quick glance at Ms Opal and saw the older woman smiling cheekily at him. 

"Off you go," Ms Opal said, waving them off. "It's rude to keep a young lady waiting." 

Bede glowered at the knowing twinkle in Ms Opal's eyes. He had a sharp feeling that she was in on… whatever this was. 

He turned back to Gloria and met her anticipating smile. He huffed in an attempt to curb the skittering of his pulse. 

"Fine. I'll humour you just this once."

Gloria beamed excitedly. "Yes! C'mon, let's go, then!" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him outside. Bede's breath hitched in his throat at the sudden contact, and couldn't find any words to protest as she led him to the waiting sky taxi. 

They climbed inside and the taxi took off with a sneaky nod from Gloria. Bede leant his chin on his knuckles, studying her and trying to make sense of this sudden expedition. The deep brown of her eyes warmed, delectable and tantalising like rich chocolate. The secret twinkling in her eyes, in her smile, caused his chest to flutter. He swallowed thickly. 

"So? Where are you taking me?" he asked, forcing the words out in a disinterested tone in order to keep his voice from cracking. 

"That's a secret!" Mirth danced in her voice. She dug around in her bag for a moment before yanking a strip of dark fabric out and grinning. 

A blindfold. 

Bede blanched. "No." 

"Yes!" She reached towards him, blindfold held between her hands. 

Bede recoiled as far back as he could against the taxi doors. "You can't be serious." 

"How else is it going to be a secret?" Gloria pouted. "Come on, Bede. Don't you trust me?" She tilted her head sadly, blinking at him with faux hurt. The way she pleaded, the way she drew out his name softly so that it lingered on her tongue, made it impossible for him to resist. She was toying with his heart strings and he was a puppet, dancing and following her ministrations. He was a fool. 

How could he resist her when she looked at him like that? Eyes round like a begging growlithe, lips curled into a soft pout. Pink lips slightly parted, pink and shiny with lip gloss, the smell of sweet fruit filling his lungs- 

-and the world went dark. 

"H-Hey!" Bede barked, stiffening at the feeling of her hands slipping the blindfold over the back of his head. Her nails brushed his scalp lightly and he shivered, his breath hitching audibly. Blood rushed to his face, burning with a tight ache across his cheeks. 

"Sorry! But it needs to be a secret!" 

Arceus, she sounded so close. Her voice took on a different form when he could no longer see her. With his sight deprived, all his other senses snapped alert. A honey-sweet scent invaded his lungs with every breath. Her scent. Of strawberries and some kind of flower, usually so light that he never would have noticed unless they were close but now, now it was all he was breathing in. It permeated his entire body.

Bede sighed, relinquishing his sight to her demands. "Fine. But don't expect me to do this sort of thing again. I don't particularly appreciate being forced to walk around blind." 

He could hear the tight string of embarrassment in his voice. He flushed, scandalised by how soft he sounded. 

Gloria laughed, a gentle giggle, but it was as graceful as windchimes, as if she'd sang that beat of laughter in his ears.

This was a new form of torture. 

"Don't worry, I don't have plans to blindfold you again any time soon." 

"Am I to take that as you haven't ruled out blindfolding me again in the future altogether?" 

He clearly heard the mirth in her voice. "Well, that depends on how well this goes." 

He would have scowled at her if the damn blindfold didn't make that a fruitless endeavour. It was a frustratingly good blindfold too; thick enough to block any and all light. It fit snugly over his eyes, comfortable yet also remaining flush against the skin beneath his eyes and preventing him from sneaking a look. There were no gaps at all.

He was, effectively, completely blind. 

Bede felt the taxi shift, felt them begin their descent, and knew they were landing. He heard movement from beside him. A slight intake of breath, an eager gasp. He could imagine her squirming with excitement in her seat.

The taxi landed and Bede reached up to release himself from the blindfold before his wrists were snatched away.

"Uh-uh! Not yet!" Gloria huffed. 

Bede froze, his wrists held firmly in her hands. "You expect me to walk with this on? Do I need to remind you that I cannot see?" 

Her fingers slid over his wrists, he heard the shifting of fabric and stiffened reflexively. His breath caught in the silence. He suddenly felt warmer. Something solid brushed the outside of his thigh. 

"Don't move." 

Her voice sounded so close - right in front of his face. A gentle dusting of air caressed his cheeks. Warm air. 

Was that her… was she so close he could feel her breath?!

"W-What are you doing?!" Bede squawked. His heart rocketed into his throat. He tensed and squeezed his eyes shut automatically, bracing himself for whatever was going to happen next. The memory of her soft, pink lips flashed in his mind and he couldn't breathe. 

Her grip on his wrists relaxed, her hands fell away. 

"You really can't see anything, can you?" She sounded further away now. 

Bede sank against the taxi door, deflating like an empty balloon, as if his spine had given way and collapsed. 

"I-I thought that was obvious!" Bede swallowed, trying to ease the construction of his throat. 

"I was just checking." 

A door clicked open and then shut, leaving Bede in silence. He shifted off the door he'd fallen against and it clicked open a moment later. He looked in the direction of the sound, trying to make anything out. He saw nothing, no movement or shifting in the darkness over his eyes. 

Bede jolted when a hand slid into his. Gloria's hand, soft and warm, held his firmly. The touch of her fingers was electric, his skin alight and burning and tingling. Lightning coursed through his body as if she was a bolt of energy from the sky. Deadly and unavoidable. All consuming. 

"Come on, I've got you," she said gently, coaxing him to move with a slight tug on his hand. He melted from her touch. Slid out of the taxi, pulled towards her like a molten magnet. His whole body was aflame. A strange mix of embarrassment and mortification blended with longing and wonder. 

"You'd better not make me trip," Bede warned, but the edges to his words were soft, not sharp. 

"I'll be careful," she chimed. She shifted her hand so that she held his properly, her thumb resting on the back of his hand. "This way." A gentle tug led him forward and he followed with cautious steps. 

The evening air had begun to cool, a light breeze washing across the land. In the distance, Bede swore he could hear Wooloo. A dirt path crunched beneath their shoes. A flock of bird Pokemon, most likely Rookidee, based on their chirping, flew overhead. The air was fresh and full with the smell of flowers and dirt. Bede's mind spun, working overtime to figure out where in Galar Gloria has taken him. 

Then the warm evening sun was gone, a cool shadow enveloping them with a blanket of damp air. The air tasted like rich earth, woody and moist. It vaguely reminded Bede of Ballonlea, except they had most definitely left Ballonlea and flown elsewhere. The sounds of Pokemon skittering around their feet and scrambling away across the dirt, brought them to a halt. 

Bede heard a Pokeball click open, Gloria's Cinderace crying happily just in front of them. 

"What's going on?" Bede asked. He craned his neck, listening to Cinderace and the scampering Pokemon around them. 

"It's just Fyrian," Gloria said. "He'll keep any wild Pokemon away." She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, but it made his stomach flutter like he'd swallowed a nest of Joltik instead. 

He silently grumbled to himself as she led him onwards. Thick, long grass brushed against his shins. The crunching of solid dirt quietened as the ground they walked on softened. It felt like less of a path and more like grass and plant detritus, like wet moss and damp earth. Twigs occasionally snapped beneath their feet. The cries of Rookidee and Skwovet faded. A faint trickle of water gurgled in the distance, a stream running not far off to their right. 

Bede's foot caught on something. He lurched forward with a yelp, slamming into something solid and toppling to the ground. The solid mass he'd fallen onto hissed a sharp cry of pain, Bede's face smacking against something warm and soft and definitely Gloria-

Bede tried to scramble off her but hands clasped on his shoulders and held him still. 

"Shh!" she hissed, the sound coming further up, somewhere above his head. "Don't move…!" 

Bede froze. Stiffened like a log, knees digging into the ground on either side of Gloria's body. He couldn't see her beneath him, couldn't tell how they were positioned, but it wasn't hard to figure it out. Her thighs were beneath his hips. He could feel the rise and fall of her chest too close to his face. He smouldered inside, holding his breath painfully in his lungs. He couldn't hear anything over the roaring of blood pounding in his ears. 

A few, tense seconds passed, and Gloria sighed, "It's fine now." 

Bede pulled himself off her in an instant. He got to his feet, tugging at the collar of his coat as if he could hide beneath it. His face ached with a fierce blush which he knew would be clearly visible. 

"Sorry about that," Gloria said. He heard her get to her feet and brush the dirt off her clothes. "Oh, the front of your coat's all dirty! Here, let me…" 

Before Bede could protest, he felt her smooth her hands across the bottom of his coat before shifting to his knees and brushing the dirt off there too. 

"I-It's fine," Bede said, choking on his breath as she dusted her hands across his thighs. "It's just dirt." 

Her touch vanished. 

"I didn't see the root, sorry," she apologized, her voice coming from near eye-level this time so he knew she was standing now. "Are you okay?" 

Bede huffed. "I should be asking you that. And also, why'd you make us wait?" 

"Oh, there was a wild Weezing coming towards us. Fyrian managed to distract it." 

A wild Weezing? He frowned, feeling even more disoriented than before. 

"Come on, we're almost there." Her hand slid into his again, and she coaxed him along. "I'll be on the lookout for any wayward roots and branches, don't you worry!" 

"And any wandering Pokemon too, I should hope." 

"That's Fyrian's job". 

Cinderace cheered happily from up ahead. 

Bede tried to relax and trust her as she led him this way and that, turning in what felt like endless spirals left and right. He had a thought to chide her about not leading him around in circles but bit it down.

He was already letting her lead him around blindfolded. That required either an immense amount of trust or a certain kind of stupidity, and Bede was not going to admit to the latter. 

The trickling of water grew louder, Gloria beginning to lead Bede with more confidence, with a spring in her step he could feel through their hands. 

"We're almost there…!" she said excitedly. Bede imagined the giddy grin on her face, the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled like that. 

"Good. I was beginning to think this was all a ploy to lead me around endlessly in circles. You seemed to be enjoying yourself a bit too much at times." 

Gloria snickered. "That might have been a part of it. How often do I get the chance to have you completely depend on me like this? A girl's got to enjoy the moment while it lasts," she teased.

Bede held back his comment, the thought, that he didn't exactly mind this either. 

Gloria stopped, her hand dropping from his. "Here we are!" She lifted the blindfold off Bede's eyes, slipping the fabric off his head and took a step back. 

Bede blinked at the onslaught of light as his eyes adjusted and the landscape bloomed to life in front of him.

They were nestled deep in a forest, a fence of thick trees surrounding them, their lush branches and leaves forming a canopy above that let thin beams of light filter through. A stone monument sat at the edge of a crystal clear lake. It appeared like the ruins of a stage, fractured steps leading up to a single, worn gravestone standing tall in the middle. A towering arch of stone framed the gravestone, intricate symbols carved into the broken arch. Vines spread across the stone, weeds and tiny flowers sprouting in the cracks. 

The air tasted different here, light and fresh. A thick fog embraced the clearing, tinted a gorgeous rosy pink from the sunset. There was something about this place that made Bede's heart soften. A whisper of calm rested over his shoulders. He drank it in, gaze slowly capturing the scenery before his eyes met Gloria's. 

She glowed. Sunlight wrapped her in a ethereal cloak of light, the scarlet hues of the sunset painted across her face. Her smile was otherworldly, the adoration in her eyes breathtaking. She stole the air from his lungs with a single smile. Filled him with a fuzzy warmth with the way she watched him. 

"Isn't it beautiful?" she asked, and no thoughts formed in his head. Nothing but awe. 

"You're beautiful…" 

She tilted her head. "Sorry? What was that?" 

Needles of heat rained through Bede's body, stabbing him with a painful jolt of clarity.. "N-Nothing!" he snapped. "I just said 'it's beautiful.'"

Her smile brightened. She let her gaze wander, taking in the scenery as if it had been the first time she'd seen it too. Bede took the moment to calm his breathing, to settle his racing heart. 

"You know, this is where Hop and I first met Zarcian," she said. "It was just after we'd gotten our Pokemon from Leon. A Wooloo had broken through the gate and we rushed after it without even thinking…" 

Bede watched her intently as she spoke. He'd never heard her tell this story before. 

"We soon found out why we'd been forbidden from coming in here. The fog was thick and choking, and we could barely see. That's when Zarcian came out of the fog at us." 

She smiled softly as she reminisced, a melancholic depth forming in her eyes. 

"We didn't know what it was at the time. None of our attacks worked and the fog grew thicker until we passed out. Leon found us - and the Wooloo - a while later, but the mysterious Pokemon we'd seen was nowhere to be found. It was only later, much later, that we'd realised that it had been Zarcian. Because of that encounter, we thought to come here on… on that day during the Champion's Cup." 

Gloria looked off into the distance. Her smile faded.

"I wonder… what would have happened if we didn't follow the Wooloo that day? If we hadn't stumbled upon Zarcian? It was only because of them that we were able to defeat Eternatus. If it wasn't for them…" 

"But you did." 

Gloria looked at Bede as if surprised to hear him answer her. Surprised by the clarity in his eyes. 

"You followed the Wooloo, trusted your gut, and helped defeat Eternatus. There's no point dwelling on what could have been." 

Her smile returned, softer this time. "Thanks, Bede. I always wondered if it was fate, me and Hop coming here that day. We had no idea what it meant, what was going to happen afterwards." 

"I think most people have had experiences like that; though most don't include encountering Legendary Pokemon." 

"I guess it was fate that you met Ms Opal that day in Hammerlocke," Gloria said. 

Bede's cheeks warmed. "I suppose so, if you believe in something like fate." 

"Aw, you don't?" Gloria looked sadly at him. "But it's so romantic, destiny and fate; things like that." She sighed whimsically. 

"I prefer to make my own fate," Bede said. "If the universe is so determined to force me down a path then it had better be ready for a fight. I'm not letting something as flimsy as fate keep me from my goals."

"I don't think fate or destiny is something so easy as having things fall into place," Gloria agreed. "You have to fight for your own destiny - but it's nice to think that people can be brought together by fate or destiny." 

Bede fell silent for a moment. "Perhaps. So, I gather from your story that this is the Slumbering Weald?" 

"Yup!" Gloria beamed. "But you've got to keep this place a secret. A few people already know about it, but the less that know, the better." 

"Then, why tell me?"

Gloria looked out across the shimmering water of the lake. "I came here the other day, at sunset, just like this… and I thought, 'I wish Bede could see this.'" 

He couldn't breathe for a moment. There was something soft in her voice, soft and warm and gentle. Something he couldn't place, something he knew he'd heard from her before. 

He'd heard something similar in his voice at times too. 

"Why…?" Bede managed to force out through his constricting throat. 

Gloria cast her eyes around the forest before looking back at him. "I don't know. It's pink!"

Bede frowned. "Pink is your colour." 

"It's yours too, Mr Fairy Gym Leader," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "And what about that coat?" She jabbed a finger into his shoulder, poking his pink coat. "Looks like pink to me." 

"Alright, alright. We both wear pink." He swiped her finger away. 

"Pink is our colour, then." 

Bede stole his eyes from hers, feeling his cheeks colour that very same pink. 

Our colour. 

If it was with her, Bede supposed he didn't mind sharing.


End file.
